


brighter than a shooting star

by LuciferCaelestis



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Keith's Birthday Week 2017, M/M, Pre-Kerberos Mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 22:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12467764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciferCaelestis/pseuds/LuciferCaelestis
Summary: Keith was ready to spend a quiet evening alone in his room after the long day he’d had when a hand grabbed at him, pulling him around the corner into a broad chest as the patrols passed.Or: Shiro tries to make Keith's birthday a special day.





	brighter than a shooting star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heyitscmei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyitscmei/gifts).



> So this is my fic for [heyitscmei](http://heyitscmei.tumblr.com) for Keith's birthday exchange at [vldexchange](https://vldexchange.tumblr.com).
> 
> [heyitscmei](http://heyitscmei.tumblr.com) asked for: Shiro trying to make Keith's birthday special and remembering it/celebrating it since Keith tends to forget it. So here's some Garrison Sheith for you! I hope you like it!

Keith was ready to spend a quiet evening alone in his room after the long day he’d had when a hand grabbed at him, pulling him around the corner into a broad chest as the patrols passed.

The only reason he didn’t lash out against the perpetrator was because he recognized the offending hand. He’d stared at them often enough after all.

He sighed, resisting the urge to lean into the warmth pressed against his body. All traces of his lingering bad mood disappeared and he couldn’t suppress his smile. 

“What are you doing, Shiro?” Despite his attempts to keep his cool, his voice made clear his fondness for the man currently trapping him. 

Shiro gave him a cheerful grin, his eyes dancing with mischief. “I figured it was a good time to do something a little different today,” he replied.

Keith raised an eyebrow, pulling away from Shiro reluctantly.

“Is it going to involve Iverson yelling at us after he finds out like the last time we ‘tried something different’? I almost feel sorry for him, if he had any hair left, I’m sure he’d have ripped it out by now,” he deadpanned.

“My ears still haven’t recovered from the last time,” Shiro agreed in shared sympathy. “It's nothing as fun as that, we’re just going out for a ride.”

“I thought you said we were doing something different this time? We’ve snuck out for a ride every week since we met, remember? And what's with all the secrecy?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me,” Shiro said, squeezing Keith’s arm before letting it go and checking around the corner for anyone still lurking.

The spark of amusement in Shiro’s eyes was ominous. 

Even more so when he started walking confidently, like he had every right to be striding through the Garrison halls with no care in the world. Keith fell naturally in step beside him, despite how worried he was that they would be stopped and punished for being out after curfew. There was a reason they snuck out instead of being so obvious. 

“Besides, this time–“ Shiro waved around a piece of paper triumphantly ”–we have permission.”

Keith snatched the paper out of Shiro’s hands, curious about how Shiro had managed it. He raised his eyebrows at the signature at the end. “You went for Montgomery… Smart of you,” he said, knowing how the older woman favoured Shiro.

Shiro shrugged good-naturedly. “I try.”

“They don’t hand out passes like this for no reason though,” Keith left off, hoping Shiro would fill him in.

“I may have promised her a favour or two. I’m gonna pay for it later, but it was worth it, in my opinion. So are you coming or not?” Shiro asked teasingly, coming to a stop.

He would follow Shiro anywhere. He resisted the urge to say that to Shiro though, there were some things better left unsaid for now. By the softening of Shiro’s eyes, he knew that some of it came through anyway.

Shiro’s entire face softened when he smiled. Keith found himself looking at Shiro’s chest instead, knowing that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from touching Shiro’s face in wonder. He swallowed, only managing a quick nod and a weak smile to Shiro’s answering grin.

In his avoidance of Shiro’s face, Keith noticed what Shiro was wearing. He’d absently noted that Shiro had already changed from his uniform to a more casual look earlier, but now he noticed the white t-shirt stretched across his chest and his black jeans, completed by a worn but clearly well-loved leather jacket. 

It was distracting.

“Can you tell me where we’re going at least?” he asked when Shiro started moving, keeping up with Shiro easily.

“Patience yields focus–“ Shiro started, before he’s interrupted by Keith’s groan. Shiro liked to pull out that line whenever Keith showed even a hint of impatience, so it was well carved into his mind by now.

“Ok, I get it,” Keith said. “I still can’t believe you’re the kind of person that takes fortune cookie quotes seriously.”

Shiro pouted. It looked distressingly good on him. Luckily, they arrived at the garage before Shiro could notice how distracted Keith was. The garage had other distractions to offer anyway.

His eyes went straight to his hoverbike, red as ever and looking good as new after the last touch up he’d done. When his feet follow, distantly he heard Shiro laugh at his single-mindedness. 

It was the presence of his bike that kept him sane sometimes, knowing that he had a way to escape everything when he had to. He’d worked hard to get it and it had been his only way of earning money for so long. But more than that, it was like a piece of home, and it would have killed him to have to let it go.

He was glad he’d included it in the deal he’d made to agree to enrol in the Garrison: they got him as a pilot, he got to keep his bike with him, regardless of the rules. They might not have agreed if they’d known how many times he was going to sneak out just to fly it, but he loved his bike far too much to just let it rot in storage.

Unsurprisingly, once he was done checking over his pride and joy, he found Shiro leaning against his own hoverbike, smiling at him. 

He nodded towards said hoverbike, “Is this the change of plans you were talking about?”

Usually, whenever they went on these trips, they stuck to using Keith’s hoverbike and traded off whenever the other felt like piloting, but the pieces start falling into place. Shiro’s hoverbike, his clothes, ‘doing something different today’, they weren’t just going out for a leisurely flight across the desert. His hope started rising in his chest, settling at his throat.

Shiro confirmed his suspicions. “How do you feel about a race?”

The choking feeling in his throat left him feeling out of breath, like he’d run several miles while his heart was doing backflips. 

They hadn’t raced since the first time, when Shiro had challenged Keith to a race after seeing him race in an underground tournament. When Shiro had  _ won _ , even if it was only by a tiny margin, Keith had been reluctantly impressed but also wildly curious about the only man who’d ever beaten him.

Shiro had brought him to the Garrison, convinced Keith to give it a try. He went to the trouble of speaking to the higher ups on Keith’s behalf, promising them that it would be worth it to take him in because he had so much potential. They’d been opposed to take him in only at Shiro’s word, that Galaxy Garrison wasn’t a charity but he’d proved Shiro right when he taken the entrance flight exam and shattered the records with ease.

Shiro had been the catalyst for his entire life changing and he was thankful, but he’d thought that was the end of it, that Shiro would distance himself after he’d gotten in. 

He was wrong. 

Shiro had been quietly persistent in pursuing a friendship with him, patient enough to wait for Keith to let him in even after Keith rebuffed him, over and over again.

He was still waiting patiently now, after Keith was lost in reverie, waiting for an answer.

“Yeah, of course!” 

Keith had been wanting to race Shiro for months now. At first to prove that he could win and now because he’d never felt as exhilarated as he had when flying against Shiro. The only thing that could possibly be better was flying  _ with _ Shiro.

“Are you ready?”

He straddled his bike and revved the engine. “Are  _ you _ ready?” he tossed back at Shiro. “You surprised me the first time, now I know how you fly.”

Shiro just smirked in response. “You forget, I’ve seen you fly too now. We start at Rodman’s cliff, with one loop around the last route we took. Last one back owes the winner a favour.”

Keith nodded, eager to get started.

They made their way out of Garrison property, Shiro showing his written pass to the guard by the gate. Keith laughed in elation, going even faster as the Garrison faded into the background. This had the makings of a truly wonderful end to the day.

His eyes focused as they approached the base of the cliff. It was a long winding road they had to fly through, complete with (stacks of rock) to navigate around, making it more difficult. It required both precision and speed, and luckily, Keith had the latter in spades.

“Ready, set, go!”

They both accelerated immediately, neck-and-neck with each other.

The fact was that they were both pretty much equally skilled. But sometimes Keith’s risk taking made him overstep and he had to readjust, causing him to fall back, which allowed Shiro to catch up to Keith, even through his more cautious style of flying.

In the end, it was still Keith’s casual attitude with death-defying stunts that brought him to victory.

“I won! Yes!” Keith exclaimed, whooping as he soared past their self-declared finish line. When Keith looked back at Shiro, he was only watching on fondly, a proud smile on his face at Keith’s victory.

Shiro settled a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Congratulations, Keith. I knew you could do it. Maybe next time you could take less years off my life with that kind of flying?” 

Keith laughed. “We’ll see.”

After the race was over, Shiro directed Keith to stand beside the rock with his eyes closed, citing wanting to surprise Keith with something.

He humoured Shiro, closing his eyes and covering his eyes with his eyes for good measure. He could hear Shiro rummaging around his pack and laying some things on the ground close to him.

Minutes passed, and still Shiro wasn’t done with whatever he was doing.

“Can I open my eyes yet?” Keith asked dryly.

“Wait a second… Ok, now you can open your eyes,” Shiro replied, sounding satisfied. “You should probably sit down too.”

Taking his hands off of his face, Keith looked around for whatever Shiro had prepared. His eyes widened when he noticed the blanket on the ground, as well as some containers full of what was probably food. He sat down carefully, trying to avoid disturbing the containers.

“What is all this? Are we having a picnic or something?” 

“Happy birthday Keith.”

Keith froze. The date registered in his mind. It actually was his birthday. He’d forgotten. Years of having no reason to celebrate had all but excised the date from his mind. He didn’t know how to feel about this, though.

When he finally got his mouth to start working again, he croaked out, “How did you know?”

“I remembered from your file back when you were enrolling. I guess I just never forgot,” Shiro explained.

Keith didn’t know what to say. How could he explain to Shiro that he hadn’t celebrated his birthday in years? That he’d never had a reason to since his dad left?

“This is for you.” Shiro thrusted a neatly wrapped package into his hands. It was just like Shiro to make sure that the wrapping was done perfectly, and going to the trouble of choosing wrapping paper that he knew Keith would like. 

He traced over the star patterns on the paper wistfully, wondering when the last time someone had given him a present was. Years ago, probably.

He almost doesn’t want to open this present. He wanted to keep it as it was, a reminder that someone cared about him enough to get him something, cared enough to  _ remember _ . How many times had he wished for something like this to happen when he was younger, friendless and so very lonely?

The last present he’d gotten had been from his father, a knife he kept even now, though he hid it away most of the time. What scared him was that not long after his father had given him the knife, he’d left. He’d left Keith alone, waiting in their house, and never came back.

He didn’t want history to repeat itself again. He didn’t want Shiro to leave.

As he struggled to say anything to Shiro, anything at all, he felt ashamed. Shiro had done something nice for him, went to all the trouble of preparing this, getting a gift for him and even inviting Keith for a race like Keith had always wanted. Shiro deserved more than silence from him. 

“Thank you,” he said quietly. He hoped that Shiro could hear everything he couldn’t say, how grateful he was that Shiro had entered his life, and how grateful he was that he’d stayed.

“You’re welcome,” Shiro replied softly. His smile was almost audible through his voice, and Keith’s heart was squeezed, because what had he ever done to deserve someone like Shiro in his life?

He turned back to the gift, not wanting Shiro to see him crying. Unwrapping it as carefully as he could and taking care not to tear the wrapping paper, he set it aside so that he could keep it as a memento of this occasion.

The first thing he noticed was the pair of fingerless gloves, meant for when he was flying his hoverbike most likely. He’d worn his last pair constantly to the point of wearing it out. Keith pulled them on gently, enjoying the feel of them on his hands after so long.

It was a thoughtful gift, exactly what he would have wanted.

“How did you know that I wanted these?”

“I noticed how worn your old gloves were getting before you stopped wearing them and I know how much you loved them.”

He smiled at the thought of Shiro carefully noting down his preferences while they were debating the functions and aesthetic of fingerless gloves. 

Then, he realized: “They fit perfectly.”

Shiro looked almost sheepish at that. “I had to borrow your last pair for a bit to get the right measurements, I hope you don’t mind.”

He shot another quick smile at Shiro before he looked down at his other present. It was a red jacket, similar to the one he wore the first time they’d met, only this one was cropped and had stripes of white and yellow on it as well.

It was love at first sight.

He pulled it on and revelled in the warmth it offered. The quality was a lot better than his previous jacket, he could tell, but honestly, Shiro could have given him rags and he still would have been happy.

“Any reason why you chose a jacket like this?”

Shiro gave an easy shrug. “It reminded me of you. I figured you could use a replacement anyway.”

“Thank you. I love them both.”

Just spending time with Shiro like this would have been a great way to spend his birthday but to have all of this? He’d remember today for the rest of his life. He just had no way to say that to Shiro without it ending with him in tears.

But from the look on Shiro’s face, he understood.

Shiro clasped Keith’s gloved hand with his own, squeezing it reassuringly. “Now are you ready to eat?”

Keith’s stomach grumbled in reply.

Shiro chuckled, grabbing one of the containers of the food he’d brought. He opened it and presented it proudly, brandishing his masterpiece grandly.

Keith’s lips twitched. “Is that mac n cheese?”

Shiro heard the laughter in Keith’s voice and pouted. “So what if it is? I wanted to make you something I made myself for a change...”

Keith shook his head fondly, touched by all the effort Shiro put into the entire affair. “I really appreciate it, Shiro.”

The mac n cheese was crispier than he was used to, and saltier too, but he loved every single bite nonetheless.

Shiro’s expectant look brightened when he gave Shiro a thumbs up for the food. He’s honoured that Shiro actually waited for him to finish his mac n cheese first before he dug in himself. He knew how much Shiro loved his mac n cheese after all.

“Should I be relieved I wasn’t poisoned?” Keith ribbed playfully.

“See if I ever cook for you again,” Shiro muttered around his mouthful of macaroni.

Shiro retrieved one final package from his bike. It was fairly lumpy after being stuffed with everything else. He opened the box to reveal a small chocolate cake which he then added a single candle to the top. After he struck a match, the flame was a small bright spot in the dusk, but it did allow Keith to see Shiro’s face lit by candlelight.

He was beautiful.

The cake was carefully handed off to him, and Shiro sang a surprisingly good rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ as he moved closer to Keith until he was plastered to Keith’s side.

After the very last verse, Keith blew on the candle gently, blinking away the tears that had formed in his eyes. 

Cutting through the cake with a fork, liquid chocolate oozed from the center and his eyes widened in surprised delight.

“How did you know?” Chocolate lava cake was his very favourite kind of cake, but he hadn’t had it in years. And he’d never mentioned it to Shiro.

“I guess I just know you.”

Keith felt a burst of affection for Shiro after hearing his answer.

He savoured the cake, eating it slowly and finishing every last inch of it. He let out a mournful noise when his fork scraped against the empty plate, wishing he could have some more. It was quite possibly one of the best things he’d ever tasted. 

Shiro brought his arm around Keith, squeezing gently. “I’m glad you liked it.”

Keith leaned back against Shiro, more drawn than ever to his warmth. “So what’s the plan now? Are we going back to the base?”

“I thought we could just stay out here and look at the stars for a while. But it’s your birthday, you should decide.”

“I think I’d like that,” Keith replied.

Shiro smiles. “Ok then.” 

He settled in against Shiro, getting comfortable. “Thank you for this. I haven’t had a birthday like this in a long time. I’ll never forget it.”

“No problem,” Shiro said easily. “Maybe we should do this every year? Get away like this and look at the stars together...”

The wistfulness in Shiro’s voice pulled at something in Keith. The thought of this happening again, spending a day with Shiro just having fun and looking at the stars together, he wanted it with all his heart.

“We should do this again next year,” Keith replied firmly.

They spent the next few hours like that, just talking and pointing out stars, making up stories behind those constellations.

It must have been close to midnight when Shiro suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his sentence.

Keith looked at him in concern before Shiro turned to him excitedly.

“There’s another reason I wanted to go out tonight. There’s a meteor shower happening tonight, the Orionids. It peaked a few days ago but I bet we can still see some tonight.”

“It sounds like you planned everything perfectly,” Keith joked playfully.

“For everything to turn out perfectly, we’d better catch a few meteors first.”

They waited for a while, content to sit in silence however long it took before they spotted a shooting star.

It was soon afterwards that the sky began to be lit up by endless lights streaking across the sky.

It was beautiful. 

“Make a wish, Keith,” Shiro urged him.

Keith closed his eyes, the sight of countless shooting stars lighting up the sky and Shiro right beside him filling his mind as he wished with all his heart:

_ I wish I could have this forever. _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed it!


End file.
